The Ministry of Industry and Trade has just commented on the proposal to draft the Law on Science, Technology and Innovation, sent to the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Institutionalize policies on science and technology development
Responding to the request of the Ministry of Science and Technology in Official Dispatch No. 5111/BKHCN-PC dated December 19, 2024 regarding comments on the proposal to develop the Law on Science, Technology and Innovation, after studying the draft and accompanying documents, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has the following comments: The draft Law on Science, Technology and Innovation has aimed to institutionalize the policies and orientations of the Party and State on the development of science, technology and innovation; resolving difficulties and problems arising in the process of implementing the Law on Science and Technology 2013.
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| Scientific and technological research activities - Illustration photo |
At the same time, new contents are included in line with the development trends of science, technology and innovation in the world as well as practical requirements in Vietnam. The Ministry of Industry and Trade basically agrees with most of the provisions in the draft.
To ensure feasibility after the Law is promulgated, the Ministry of Industry and Trade requests that the drafting unit continue to research to complete and supplement the following specific contents: Propose to quickly research and supplement regulations to institutionalize the policies, orientations, goals and tasks stated in Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW dated December 22, 2024 of the Politburo on breakthroughs in science and technology development, innovation and national digital transformation.
Specifically stating the proposed amendments and supplements to the draft Law, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that, regarding the interpretation of terms in Article 3, it is recommended to continue researching and reviewing the terms in the Law to ensure clarity and the ability to clearly distinguish in practice the implementation of related regulations: applied research, technology development, and experimental implementation.
At the same time, it is proposed to amend Clause 4, Article 3 from “ 4. Basic research is experimental or theoretical work carried out primarily to obtain new knowledge about the nature of observable phenomena and events, without the intention of having immediate application or specific benefits ” to “ 4. Basic research is experimental or theoretical work carried out primarily to obtain new knowledge about the nature of observable phenomena and events, without the intention of having immediate application or specific benefits ”.
It is proposed to review the two terms “experimental production” and “innovation”. According to the current draft, there is an overlap in the nature of these two types of activities; the term “research and development” needs to be supplemented and clarified to serve as a basis for related concepts such as “scientific and technological organizations and organizations performing research and development functions".
It is recommended to review the provisions in Clause 13, in which the use of two subjects (including universities and research institutes) does not represent all research subjects as prescribed by this Law.
In addition, it is proposed to add a definition for the term "innovation promotion organization" to ensure clarity for the term "innovation system"; it is proposed to review the content of the draft to add in Article 3 definitions for related terms, such as: open science and the concept of "Leading Scientist" to have a basis for applying the concept of "Leading Scientist" in this Law.
In Article 4: Propose to review to ensure conformity and consistency with the provisions of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents; in Article 6: Propose to clearly stipulate which agency has the authority to promulgate the "prohibited products" specified in Clause 1 or which regulations are referred to as the basis for application.
In Article 7, it is proposed to add provisions on the Government's detailed regulations related to this content, in which it is necessary to clarify the authority, evaluation criteria, and methods of determining issues such as: Objective causes, regulations on scientific research; it is proposed to add an explanation of the term "scientific research". Meanwhile, in Article 3, it only mentions terms such as: basic research, applied research...
It is necessary to clarify the scope of studies that must be approved by the Ethics Committee.
In Article 8, Clause 1, the Ministry of Industry and Trade stated that it is necessary to clarify the scope of research that must be approved by the Ethics Council due to the wide range of applications of technologies (for example, biotechnology). In addition, research has many stages, corresponding to output results as prescribed by the Law. If current regulations are followed, it may lead to the inhibition of the development of research related to humans, while the issue that needs to be controlled is the possibility of negative impacts on humans in the results when put into practical application and implementation.
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| Scientific and technological research in enterprises - Photo: Quynh Nga |
Along with that, consider revising Clause 2, Article 8 from " 2. Research and development of automated systems capable of replacing humans in some jobs must ensure that they are human-centered and under human control " to " 2. Research and development of automated systems and artificial intelligence capable of replacing humans in some jobs must ensure that they are human-centered and under human control ".
In Clause 2, the term “human-centered” is difficult to become an evaluation criterion and is not legally normative. In Clause 3, it is proposed to have general regulations on integrity in scientific, technological and innovative activities and compliance for organizations and individuals engaged in these activities instead of stipulating organizations in issuing regulations.
In Article 9, the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed to supplement the explanation for the terms “open science”, “open research”, “open science model”. Clause 2, with the results from scientific, technological and innovative activities using the state budget, the regulations related to data sharing, standard formats, infrastructure and accessibility, and reusability need to be specifically regulated by the Law to ensure practical implementation instead of the “encouraging” regulation as in the draft.
In Article 10, the Ministry of Industry and Trade stated that the provisions of this Article may not be consistent with and consistent with other Laws. Therefore, in Article 4, it is necessary to add provisions on the application of law to the same issue stipulated in the Law on Science, Technology and Innovation that are not regulated by other Laws promulgated before or after the effective date of this Law.
It is proposed to supplement the Government's regulations detailing this content. This is a new and complicated issue that requires specific regulations on the authority, procedures, and responsibilities of relevant parties to ensure the feasibility, effectiveness, and efficiency of this regulation.
On the other hand, in Article 11, the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed to review Clause 1 to avoid duplication of ideas and content; in Clause 3, it proposed to assign the Government to provide general regulations on this content for consistent application to Science and Technology Contracts at different levels and management entities.
In Article 15: It is proposed to add a provision on the Government detailing this content because some new contents need specific regulations to guide the application to ensure feasibility after the Law is promulgated. For example: regulations on assigning individuals to participate in business management, being "prioritized" in science and technology tasks, innovation tasks... It is recommended to clarify what information and data is included in the content of “capturing business needs”; this term does not ensure clear meaning for application. Review the provisions in Clause 1 and Clause 6 to ensure avoiding duplication. |
Source: https://congthuong.vn/bo-cong-thuong-gop-y-ve-luat-khoa-hoc-cong-nghe-va-doi-moi-sang-tao-372066.html
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